The final trailer for M. Night Shyamalan‘s new horror movie “Knock at the Cabin” has released. The film is an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s popular 2018 novel, “The Cabin at the End of the World.” It will be Shyamalan’s return to R-rated horror. Since 2008’s “The Happening,” he has stuck to PG-13 scares.
“Knock at the Cabin” stars Dave Bautista (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Rupert Grint (“Servant”) Nikki Amuka-Bird (“Old”), Ben Aldridge (“Pennyworth”), and Jonathan Groff (“Mindhunter”). It centers around a young girl and her parents’ vacationing in a remote cabin in the woods. The family is taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand they make the choice to willingly kill one of their own. The strangers claim that doing so will stop the apocalypse. What looks like a typical home invasion film becomes about morality and the love we have for our families vs all of humanity.
Originally, the loglines for the film said the family had limited access to the outside world. It also heavily insinuated the apocalypse may not be real, but THIS trailer may dispel that doubt. When the family refuses to kill one of their own because strangers tell them to, Bautista’s character flips on the TV to show the carnage that decision will cause. The family watches, horrified, as a tidal wave swallows people up on screen. He explains for every ‘no’ that they give hundreds of thousands of people will die.
While there is still a reasonable possibility for a Shyamalan-style twist, my guess would be fake footage being cast onto the tv ala “Oldboy.” With the whole thing being some kind of social experiment. Or just a group of sickos that likes watching families kill each other. But this much more blunt trailer could also just be Shyamalan wanting to break from his “What a twist!” persona. He could just want to make a straight-up horror movie without the reliance on deception.
We won’t really know until “Knock at the Cabin” hits theaters on February 3rd, 2023. Check out the new trailer below:
